Published by College Counselor Theresa Wright 773-881-6700 ext. 233
IMPORTANT UPCOMING
College Counseling Newsletter
DATES:
W I N T E R
twright@morganparkacademy.org
2 0 1 5
Jan. 8: Young Alumni College Advice Panel Jan. 14: Practice ACT for Juniors Jan. 14: College Search Workshop for Junior and Sophomore Families, 6:30PM Jan. 14: Last Day to Sign up for Kaplan ACT Prep Course Jan. 31: First Day of Kaplan Test Prep Course
Individual College Meetings with Juniors have begun and will continue through March. Once I have met individually with your student, I welcome parents to schedule an appointment for a Junior Family College Planning meeting where we will discuss your child’s search specifically. Please call or email me to set that up.
Waiting for Admission Decisions: Next Steps By now, you’ve likely heard back from some of your schools with news of your admission status. Hopefully, you’ve heard affirmatively and can confidently move forward with some offers in your back pocket. For those of you still waiting due to a deferral or a regular decision plan, you should take steps during this time of year to advocate for yourself. First, your mid-year transcripts will automatically be sent to all the schools in your Naviance account (with the exception of U of I, UC schools, Iowa, all of whom do not request tran-
scripts be sent until the time of admission). Next, draft an update letter or email to your admission counselor. This letter should include the following: a reaffirmation of your interest in the school, a list of any new activities that were not included in your application, a list of any new honors/awards/ leadership roles you’ve received, new test scores, and you can list your new 7th semester GPA. If you drop any core academic courses for second semester, you need to let your colleges know that as well. Minimally, for your first
and second choice schools, a quick message about how passionate you are about attending their school can only help demonstrate your interest. Congrats to those who have received offers of admission! Don’t forget to turn in copies of all admission and scholarship offers!
Scholarship Search: Now is the Time! Sometimes, seniors wait until April when they’ve received admission decisions to think about scholarships only to find out that Spring is too late for most scholarship application deadlines. Now is the time for students to be searching for outside scholarships
offered through community organizations, employers, churches etc. While the task may seem overwhelming with thousands of scholarships out there, diligence and commitment to this part of the process can literally pay off. If scholarship applications re-
quire transcripts or letters of recommendation, please see your college counselor to request those documents. Check out these websites for scholarship information: www.fastweb.com www.scholarships.com www.collegeanswer.com